Space Awareness

What is Space Awareness? 

The main aims of the project are to:

  • 01 Stimulate the next generation of space-oriented scientists

  • 02 Broaden children’s minds, develop a sense of European and global citizenship and foster understanding for diverse culture.

  • 03 Build long-term partnerships between people from different cultural backgrounds and countries inside and outside Europe.

  • 04 Help build the scientific and technological capacity of developing countries.

The project strives to inform children and young adults about current research and issues related to space sciences and the numerous career opportunities offered by space, and to show them that space science can be fun and inspiring. Educators can benefit immensely from the project by taking advantage of the large array free high-quality resources that are easily adaptable to different disciplines and countries.

What will you find in Space Awareness?

Space Awareness offers a series of complementary activities and resources to inspire children from 8 to 18 years old, primary and secondary school teachers, teacher trainers, science educators, and families.

Space Awareness focuses on four categories related to major global issues and current European space missions. It offers complementary resources, selected according to EU and South African curricula requirements, to address each topic with children:

  • Our wonderful Universe considers the vastness and beauty of the Universe. The category relates to the knowledge and challenges of human space exploration.

  • Our fragile planet deals with the major environmental challenges facing the world, the role that the study of other planets can play in understanding these global issues and the importance of Earth satellites in monitoring climate changes.

  • Navigation through the ages traces the history of navigation, the fifteenth-century European explorers and their missions of global discovery, to the importance of Europe’s Galileo programme for the current needs of citizens.

  • Islamic heritage: the journey of the ideas highlights the important contributions from Islamic scientists during the Middle Ages to our modern concepts of space and the Universe. It tells the story of a shared history based on tolerance and respect for other cultures.

    Visit Space Awareness website 

    The OAD is a partner in the Space Awareness project which received funding from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme under grant agreement nº 638653